In the wake of a two week long football comedy of errors, different organs of the Botswana Football Association (BFA) Disciplinary Committees have called on the mother body, the Botswana Premier League (BPL) and clubs to put their house in order.
In the latest episode, the BFA Disciplinary Committee (DC) has called on the BFA to repair and ‘rebuild’ its house. The BFA DC made the recommendation in a ruling on the appeal case in which Mochudi Centre Chiefs were querying the outcome of the Botswana Premier League (BPL) Disciplinary Committee (DC). Chiefs had appealed to the BFA DC to revoke the BPL DC ruling that found ‘Magosi’ and other clubs to be ‘in equal fault’ (in pari delicto) with Rollers as they had registered players in excess of the required limit of twenty five (25). Chiefs however disputed the ruling arguing that they had complied with the rules and had registered only 25 players, contrary to the assertion that all teams are at fault. Chiefs also questioned the reliability of the BPL affidavit of facts which claimed all teams had players in excess of the required quota as they believed some players in the lists appeared in the registration of two teams while players who had been moved on still appeared in the registration lists. “We find that the BPL is similarly at fault in that it allowed teams to register players beyond the quota. There is need to ensure that registration of players is closely monitored to ensure that this problem does not occur again. If this situation is allowed to continue, there is a real danger of the entire league and competitions being declared a nullity. No one with the best interest of football at heart would like to see this happen,” the BPL DC ruled.
The same sentiments were echoed by the BFA DC. Making an impromptu ruling in the aftermath of a marathon hearing that went into the wee hours of Wednesday morning, the BFA DC agreed with the recommendations of the BPL DC for the BFA, the BPL and clubs to rebuild the sport and abide by the rules. Just as with the BPL DC, the BFA DC expressed unhappiness with the way the registration of players was being carried out by all concerned. Commenting on the matter, Mochudi Centre Chiefs’ Communications Manager, Clifford Mogomotsi, concurred with the DCs that local football needs to be ‘rebuilt.’ “We agree that things are not well within our football and as it is, we cannot continue play football under the current situation,” the Chiefs Communications Manager opined. According to Mogomotsi, problems with registrations have been going on for a long time and it should not have taken protests to put things in order. “The whole football fraternity is facing problems and rules and regulations are not adhered to. The onus now lies with the registrar, who is the BFA, the clubs and the players themselves to correct the current anomaly. We have to have dual ownership and address the deficiencies in all the processes,” the Chiefs Communications Manager continued. “Going forward, there is a need for human resource development within the administration of our local clubs. If we can build capacity in our club administration, we will be able to eliminate most of these problems,” Mogomotsi concluded.
